The present invention relates to cooking appliances, and particularly to a cooking appliance which may be used as a toaster oven for toasting bread, or as a broiler oven for broiling food articles, as well as a rotisserie for grilling food articles.
Various types of electrical cooking appliances for grilling food articles are known. My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,994, for example, discloses a grilling appliance which includes a vertically-extending impaling member for receiving the article to be grilled, and a circular array of electrical heaters surrounding the impaling member and sequential energized and de-energized according to a predetermined sequence to produce a rotating heat front for heating the food article on the impaling member. The appliance described in that patent, as well as in most other patents relating to grilling appliances, are generally single-function appliances, namely appliances which can only be used for the grilling function.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cooking appliance which can be used not only for grilling food articles, but also for other cooking functions, particularly for toasting bread, for broiling food, and/or for micro-heating food.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking appliance, comprising: a housing having walls defining a cooking compartment for receiving a food article to be cooked; a plurality of electrical heaters within the compartment for feeding a food article therein; and an impaling member mounted within the compartment for impaling a food article to be cooked or grilled, and including a further electrical heater for heating the food article impaled thereon; and an electrical supply for energizing and de-energizing the electrical heaters. The impaling member is removably mounted in a horizontal, operative position within the compartment. The appliance further comprises an electrical device effective to permit energization of the further electrical heater within the impaling member only when the impaling member is mounted in the horizontal operative position within the compartment.
As will be described more particularly below, such a cooking appliance can be used as a rotisserie for grilling food articles, but can also be used for other cooking functions, particularly as a toaster oven for toasting bread, for broiling food, and/or as a microwave oven for heating food by microwave heating.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking appliance, comprising: a housing having walls defining a cooking compartment for receiving a food article to be cooked; an impaling member horizontally mounted within the compartment for impaling a food article to be cooked or grilled; a plurality of electrical heaters within the compartment, including at least one electrical heater extending horizontally over the impaling member, and at least one electrical heater extending horizontally under the impaling member; and an electrical supply for energizing and de-energizing the electrical heaters. The impaling member is pivotally mounted within the compartment about a vertical axis to an operative position disposed completely within the compartment, or to a loading/unloading position projecting outwardly of the compartment to facilitate loading and unloading of a food article with respect to the impaling member.
In the preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the electrical supply energizes and de-energizes the electrical heaters according to a predetermined sequence to produce a rotating heat front for heating the food article on the impaling member.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.